3 Reasons Why Sir Patrick Stewart Is My Hero
Sir Patrick Stewart demands attention for a cause he cares about. Image from tv.msnbc.com. This man commands a lot of power. He’s a Shakespearean actor who’s earned international fame from a campy science fiction series that ran for seven years. Nerds around the world have chosen, for nearly three decades, to set him on a [...]
The B-Word: Why we still use it, and why we should stop
“Bitch” has taken on countless meanings, but is it really a reflection of something deeper? Image from wallpapers.rs. I had one of Those Moments the other day, driving into work with a headache and a full schedule ahead of me. It wasn’t a big deal – I wanted to merge into my exit lane, and [...]
Sex for Pay and Other Controversies: Protection
As I begin this post I want to take a moment to thank all of the readers who have been commenting on this article series so far. I’ve been blown away by the willingness of this magazine’s readers to engage critically with a subject that’s often considered taboo. Thank you, so much, and please keep [...]
The Question of the Solo Female
There’s a theory in feminist philosophy that argues that the world and women have been conceptualized in relation to men. Simone de Beauvoir put it best when she said, “Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female – whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate [...]
Rape Culture Explained
As someone who holds a degree in Women’s Studies, I’m often asked questions by people who want to learn more about feminism/feminists. With the recent media circus over the rape convictions of two high school students in the United States, I’ve decided that handing out some definitions of rape culture – the inquiry I most [...]
Sex for Pay and Other Controversies: Harm
A little while ago I began unpacking some of the controversies and conversations to be had when discussing human trafficking and sex work, including a widespread tendency to conflate the two. My first focus was a discussion of empowerment in this context and how much an outsider can infringe on a person’s choice to consent [...]
Faces of Domestic Violence
I’ve talked about intimate partner/domestic violence in this column before: It’s not simply a beating every now and then, but a pernicious pattern of brutal emotional and psychological assaults capable of life-long damage to a person’s psyche. Emotional abuse tends to begin first, and the physical shows up later in the relationship; usually, by the [...]
Sex for pay and other controversies: empowerment
I got a lot of feedback on my post about prostitution vs. human trafficking that requested I write a more elabourate series of articles to explore the themes I brought up, and I have to admit I’m pretty excited by the idea. Not only does it mean I get to pontificate more — something that [...]
Staying Chill on the Road
Staying relaxed on the road isn’t always easy, even when you’re enjoying the best trip of your life. Language barriers, missed connections, and luggage snafus are all part and parcel of any trip. What is easy is letting these stressors overwhelm you and turning that trip into the Worst Vacation Ever. Not only does that mess up [...]
With Distinctions
Recently, I was at a conference where an eloquent presenter was giving a talk about human trafficking. It’s a pretty big problem in Colorado, thanks to the I-25 corridor, lower levels of screening at Denver International Airport, and an enormous agricultural industry; in 2011, even though it only ranks 22nd of the states for total [...]
Erica first set foot on a plane when she was ten months old. 24 years, 18 countries, and four continents later, the travel bug’s still strong in her veins, and she's become increasingly engaged with issues of power, gender, sex, equality, and access around the world. After living and working in Canada, Germany, and the northeastern US, she and her partner have temporarily settled in Colorado, where she works as an advocate with adult survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Check out her biweekly column on feminism and travel here at Go Girl!